O Fantasma da Máquina

This is one of those films that is so flagrantly horrible that its actually good, in the vein of Godzilla - its the type of film that you can watch on a Saturday night with a group of buddies and laugh your @$$ off to, the deaths are hilarious in their extravagance, and the killer is laughable along with the plot...read the prior reviews to get the jist of the movie, but read this one if you would like to know a good, bad movie.

I saw this film on regular TV a few years back, and I watched because I like Karen Allen. I REALLY enjoyed this film, and YES, I WOULD RENT IT. It had good special effects and I thought the plot was great. A lot of people have seen this film, so that tells you that at least the title is a grabber. I go against all the nay-sayers though, and say this is worth your time if you like scary flicks. I remember the ending being especially suspenseful, right down to the final minutes. I do not watch every horror film that comes along, and most of them are forgettable anyway, but this one has always stuck with me. I would definitely give it FOUR STARS. (Hey, the majority is not always right!)

I had never seen it before and the premise seemed interesting. Was available on HBO so figured why not give a try. I'd say it's an interesting ride, nothing special, but worth a watch if you're into suspense/horror. Good reminder of how fun the 90s could be with tv and film.

"Ghost in the Machine" provided the best entertainment in years. The special effects were phenomenal and the acting was superb. I was on the edge of my seat the entire movie. The best part was when the dishwasher was put on the command "EXPLODE"! Wow, I was flabbergasted and appalled. The men and women involved with this movie are geniouses. I applaud them for their creativity and hope to see a sequel to this movie in the near future.

Ghost In The Machine is one of those movies that comes out with the emergence of some new technology and how it can go wrong. Computers were still in the major developing stages in the early 1990s (at least compared to today's standards), as was the Internet, and Ghost In The Machine seems to be a false start on getting a handle on turning the new technology into a horror movie or suspense thriller. The problem is that the writers of the movie were apparently so anxious to get the film written and filmed and released that they didn't take the time to put any thought into it.

The technical production of the film is not entirely a pathetic mess, even though it does assume that electronics come equipped with little windows through which can be seen the shining faces of people at their computers, and that electrical outlets with tape over them will display a blinking red ACCESS DENIED sign if you attempt to get through them, but even the most cartoonish computer animated scenes that took us on a roller coaster ride through our microwave ovens were at least mildly interesting, although not at all convincing. In this case, we are looking more at the technique than the content, the way you watch an abstract relaxation video.

The problem here is that the movie tells the story of how a serial killer steals peoples address books and then kills the people listed in them, but a reason for these killings is never even suggested. The closest we come to having a reason for why this guy is so eager to commit all of these brutal killings is during an early scene when he is driving home from his job at the computer shop, and in recklessly trying to pass a slow moving truck he swerves into oncoming traffic only to jerk the wheel to the left and go skidding down a steep hill upside down in his car, laughing all the way, HA HA HA! So the guy is completely insane. That's a reason, I guess, but probably the most uncreative one imaginable and therefore one of the least interesting ones possible.

The whole idea of the killer going into electricity in general is obviously the most unrealistic thing in the entire film, but it is stretched to cover almost the entire movie from beginning to end, which is what shows most clearly the fact that the movie is based on the emergence of the world wide web. It's kind of a what-if thriller about what would happen if a psychotic killer was accidentally released into the electricity based communications system that is the internet and was then able to defy all laws of logic and physics and who knows what else, and if he had somehow developed this overwhelming passion to kill a certain woman and her family and friends for committing the crime of leaving her address book at the computer shop. The movie makes a good solid effort to be a worthwhile thriller, but for the most part it falls completely flat.